Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Vladimir Propp:
-Propp says character's within a narrative take on the role of 'spheres of action' or specific functions.For example; the hero who is usually male, restores narrative equilibrium and saves the 'princess'.

-Propp suggested a victim hero who is the centre of the villain's attention.He also suggested a seeker hero who aids those who are the villain's victims, such as James Bond.

In our opening we include a victim hero (female detective) and a dispatcher (non-diegetic voiceover - boss).

Sunday, 27 January 2013

This is a mood board which has been created to help with deciding what content should go in our film opening, while appealing to the correct audience. For example, if we were to do a 12 we would minimalise the amount of graphic images to suit the audience.

Saturday, 26 January 2013

We put together a filming schedule of the dates we were all available for filming, including dates where our set was available for filming as well as our actors.

The original copy listed all dates available to us with the names next to them of who was available, so that we could organize our filming around this.

We then shortened this into a list of days we are actually going to film on. Having a filming schedule means we can make sure our time management is effective, it also means that we can ensure we have enough time to gain all the footage we need to avoid any continuity problems.

The highlighted dates are the dates we will film, we will film mainly on the first few and have the rest to re-film any footage if necessary.

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

We looked at different film names from the genres of thriller and crime to influence us and give us some sort of idea what we want the name of our film, for our opening, to be.

THRILLER

House at the End of the Street (2012)

Psycho (1960)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Taken (2008)

Snatch (2000)

CRIME

Se7en (1995)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Bullet to the Head (2012)

The Sweeney (2012)

Looking at these names showed us that some film names are very simple and have a clear reference to their genre, for example "Psycho" is clearly a thriller and "The Usual Suspects" is clearly a crime film.

However we have decided that to fit in with the conventions of a film opening and not giving away all the facts of the story within the opening we want to have a title that has a hidden meaning, which will intrigue the audience.
Melissa Hudson

Saturday, 19 January 2013

Tension is an important part of thriller films and it is necessary that we consider how camera shots and editing can be used to build tension.Close ups and Extreme Close ups:

Close ups and extreme close ups can be used to create tension by showing the character's facial expression, this creates tension as it is an effective way of showing a character's reaction to events. These shots can also draw attention to the significant props or items in the scene.Point of View (POV) Shots:

Point of view shots put the audience in the position of the character, which makes them feel more tension. They are viewing aspects of the film in the same way they would if they were in the same position, creating feelings of catharsis.Hidden Shots:

Shots where the camera is hidden slightly with a distorted view have a similar effect to point of view shots. They also build tension as they are often used to view the main victim of the film, giving the suggestion that they are being watched.
Melissa Hudson

From this research we found that whilst thrillers were not common as being a favourite genre people still liked them, especially the idea of a crime-thriller. This seems to be the best choice of genre for our movie as we also found that action was a popular genre of movie, and this can be included in a crime thriller, although a full action movie would be hard to shoot with such a small budget. Although comedy also seemed to be a popular choice we decided against this genre as it mainly relies on the ability of the actors, the most successful comedies include very well known actors such as Steve Martin or Rowan Atkinson, another thing out of our budget range.

Monday, 14 January 2013

Before we begin to create a narrative for our film opening, we decided to research the key narrative aspects of a thriller. We should incorporate as many of these as possible to create a narrative that will display the genre effectively and gain a positive response from the audience.

Monday, 7 January 2013

This diagram shows the purpose and importance of the thriller genre. This allows us to ensure we consider these aspects in relation to our own film opening, in order to make it as effective as possible.
Melissa Hudson